Familiar foes: Maranacook’s Charette faces former team for Gold Ball

Maranacook's Micah Charette attempts to block a kick by Lewiston goalie Dido Lumu during a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference game this season in Readfield. Staff photo by Andy Molloy

WATERVILLE — For a player who thrives on emotion, there will be many for Micah Charette on Saturday. There’s a good chance those emotions, will at times, conflict.The Maranacook senior will face his former team, Fort Kent, when the two schools square off for the Class C boys soccer state championship at Hampden Academy.

“Come kickoff it’s fight to the end, fight for 80 minutes — or 110 minutes if that’s what it comes down to — until someone comes out on top,” Charette said. “Hopefully, it’s us.”

Class C Boys

Who: Maranacook vs. Fort Kent

When: 10 a.m., Saturday

Where: Hampden Academy, Hampden

Maranacook: The Black Bears (16-1-0) return to the state final for the first time since 2014, the last time they were classified in Class C, when they won a second straight state championship. The top seed in the South has only lost once all season, to Class A state finalist Lewiston, relying on balanced scoring and a defense which has conceded only six goals all season.

Fort Kent: The Warriors have been nearly as stingy as the Black Bears, rolling to a 14-1-2 record this season by allowing only 13 goals to earn the No. 1 seed in the North. It’s Fort Kent’s first trip to a state final since earning its only championship in 2010, on the heels of consecutive regional championships.

Outlook: After two years in Class B, with appearances in the South final each season, Maranacook returns to Class C battle-tested. The Black Bears didn’t face a Class C team until the playoffs began, having earned wins over Class A playoff team Mt. Blue and Class B regional semifinalists Winslow and Erskine. Balanced scoring and a defense that’s allowed only three goals to non-Class A competition this season will be a tall task for Fort Kent.

Charette scored 15 goals last season for the Warriors, part of his 30-goal career at the school at the northern tip of Maine. But the offseason was one of big change for the striker. His father took a job in the Hall-Dale school department, where he is now an elementary school principal. Charette called the move to Maranacook one of the most difficult things a high school student can endure, having been forced to leave behind the only varsity team he’d ever known.On Friday at Thomas College, on the eve of the Black Bears’ return to a state final, Charette remembered his first day of practice at Maranacook as if it happened only last week.

“I was so nervous. I didn’t know anyone,” he said. “They all came over and shook my hand and introduced themselves, told me their names. I didn’t remember all of them right away, but they were very patient with me. They’ve been great.”

Maranacook coach Don Beckwith said that Charette came in with the right attitude almost immediately. Given that most players in the Black Bear program have learned to play the game a certain way from the time they were very young, Charette was thrust into a high-profile program and expected to succeed — given his own high-profile scoring reputation.

“He’s fit in really well. He works hard, and the other kids see it. They appreciate it. They’ve accepted him pretty easily,” Beckwith said.

Charette has 10 goals this season, a drop from his total with Fort Kent last season. Even still, he feels this has been a great year for him on the pitch.

“Some things are different, like the way we run our strikers is different than what I’m used to,” Charette said. “That’s why I think I have less goals, but I think I contribute to the team in different ways that are just as good as scoring goals. In terms of the teams, we play the same style. We all work really hard on and off the ball, which is what I’m used to.”

Fort Kent scored only 47 goals as a team during the regular season, and certainly the Warriors would love to have their former player’s right foot in their lineup on Saturday. With five seniors on that Fort Kent team — all former teammates and classmates of Maranacook’s offseason addition — it will be a bittersweet type of day for Charette.

He’s already taking a measured approach, admitting that he’s thought about the game and what it means to play against his former team for a Gold Ball.

“There’s definitely a lot of excitement, either way,” Charette said. “It’s just another soccer game for me. I have to take it that way.”

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